


Wolfblood

by Nicole94



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine, Game of Thrones (TV), Naruto
Genre: Arranged Marriages, F/M, Kings and Queens, Magic, Ninja in Westeros, Rebirth, Reincarnation, Self-Indulgent, War, Wolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-22 20:11:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17066306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicole94/pseuds/Nicole94
Summary: Hatake Kakashi and Nara Shikako (&Co) reborn in Westeros.Nara Shikako is property of Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine. Read it, it's fantastic!The Forum is also great.





	1. Conclusions

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly settings with many time skips because GoT is way too long.

**_Kakashi_ **

Kakashi had no idea what was going on. Or rather he knew but could not really grasp it. Reincarnation was obviously possible what with the whole sons of the Sage of Six Paths reincarnation thing with Naruto and Sasuke and all. But he never thought that that ridiculous thing would happen to him of all people and that he would remember his last life. He was tired, damn it! He deserved time with his loved ones and not to live a life full of disappointments again.

He had lived a long life for a Ninja, the last years in comfortable companionship with Shikako. After Narutos ascension to leadership, his marriage to Sakura, Sasukes marriage and Sai´s marriage to Ino, he and Shikako drifted together. Before the boys married all of Team Seven lived together for a while and after that the small house was a bit lonely. It was obvious that Shikako had no notion whatsoever to marry but also didn’t want to stay alone. The others all paired off too and Shikako descended into reckless mission-mode (again), so he did what he always did for his precious students: he helped. He moved in.

It was not the most socially acceptable thing to do but when had he ever cared about such a thing? It was never about sex. Shikako was his student and while she was attractive, he knew that she had no sexual urges. Even he sated his lust rarely because he too actually didn’t like sexual intimacy so much.

it wasn’t really a relationship. Not a normal one at least. It was companionship and togetherness in a way he never thought he needed. It was lying snuggling together on a couch with his dogs; it was training, cooking and eating together; it was complaining about the others habits and caring about the other during illness. It was regularly meeting with her mother and going together to social functions and dancing together.

It was absolutely not a relationship.

Even if Shikamaru always looked like he bit into a lemon when he saw them together and Kino called him ‘uncle’ or everyone expected them to come together if invited.

At the beginning, he got many disapproving looks (it was not a relationship!), but as time moved on the people stopped. Some even started smiling seeing them together. It was odd.

So he thought about their relationship and he realised that he – maybe - loved Shikako. Not sexually. It was a revelation he panicked over briefly because love was a weakness for him. He always had loved to late _(his father, Obito, Rin, Kushina and Minato)._ And then he… forgot about this. Yes, he forgot. And lived with this knowledge as if nothing happened. Because nothing happened, obviously.

 

“ _He was her teacher. Is that even okay? I mean, do you not talk to your possible Jounin-senseis about inappropriate crushes?” Sakura was unsure how to feel about this. Love was love but this?_

_Maybe it was so difficult for her because of her civilian background. As a civilian this relationship was scandalous and improper. It set a bad example, especially since Kakashi had been the Hokage after being Shikakos teacher. The power imbalance was too high._

_(Some civilians who didn’t know Shikako would probably congratulate her in silence to catch someone like Kakashi, a person with so much power and prestige while calling her a social climber and an opportunist.)_

_On the other side, since when had Shikako had to care for something like that? She was friends with multiple Hokage and on even ground concerning power, intelligence and reputation. Nobody could ever say that Shikako was pressured into any relationship. Everyone knew what would happen to someone who a) pressured Shikako into anything or b) who said that she was pressured into something. Shikako was damn vindictive and creative with retaliations and punishments._

_“If they love each other, why not.” Naruto didn’t understand the problem. Yeah, the student-teacher thing was a bit odd, but they fit together. Shikako always was more mature than others, understood people differently than others. This relationship seemed right in a way. Kakashi needed this and Shikako was so relaxed and smiled so much. He never knew how stressed she really was before the war. But with Kakashi it all seemed easy and it made her so happy. There was an understanding in their relationship he would never have imagined seeing._

_Sasuke shrugged. “Hn. I thought it weird too, but they fit. And I don´t think it´s a conventional relationship? Shikako doesn´t do relationships and Kakashi even more so.” The fuss about this was bizarre. What was the problem? Ninja lives were short enough. They were content, and it didn’t hurt anybody. He never saw them so confortable before._

_Maybe once he had imagined life with Shikako by his side, but she never would have been happy with him. He had expectations that Shikako could never fulfil. And this was better. No hard feelings, no stressors on the team dynamics. It was easy._

The more time he spent with her, the more time he realised that beside the relaxation Shikako never really changed significantly. The others matured a lot but Shikako had stayed more or less consistent. It had nagged his brain a lot. He noticed some oddities too, her use of a whole different writing and language system, jokes she made that referenced something different and nobody understood.

(Her sense of humour had always been odd but there was more to that.)

He had theories. At first, he thought she had seer abilities because she could only relax after the war, after she knew so much and where to poke and prod, where to help with what, what to prepare. In hindsight It was suspicious. She had known something, of that he was sure. But after the war she had lost all of her stressed out attitude, her reckless behaviour to achieve something that nobody knew about. The change was so profound as it was startling.

So, no seer abilities or just foreknowledge abilities to a certain point. The maturity also showed a different picture. He personally knew the difference between prodigy and maturity very well. Shikako never had been not mature – playful, yes. But not childish or naive. A third reincarnation in his Team might be the right answer.

He never asked. He never got the answer until he died of old age of all things.

Reincarnation.

He was so right. And now he was cursed with it because his whole Team was not only ludicrous overpowered but also impossible absurd and had infected him.

He hoped they were here with him. Then he could make them regret doing this to him.

And ask Shikako about being an alien.

Inside jokes and references – obviously Shikako could not even be a normal reincarnation.

 


	2. New Life

**_Kakashi_ **

He was reborn as Alarick Stark, second son of Lord Rickard who was the Lord of Winterfell, the Lord Paramount of the North, the Warden of the North and the head of House Stark. House Stark was something like a mix between a prominent Clan and a Lordship with households like in the _Daimyō_  courts. It was not a segregation between military and civilian life because House Stark had many warriors and the Lords were expected to fight if issues surfaced.

His father was for better or worse the Hokage of the North under the _Daimyō_  King Aerys II Targaryen of the House Targaryen, the Second of His Name, king of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realms.

Instead of one _Daimyō_  for every Hidden Village, there was the Head _Daimyō_ of all Hidden Villages or rather Seven Kingdoms. What a strange thing to do.

His mother clearly belonged to the Clan. Lady Lyarra Stark was a born Stark, a cousin of his father. Inter-clan marriages seemed to be common. She died in childbirth when he was four years old. He had hopes to live with a mother, he never got to meet his own and it hurt to lose someone he came to love so dearly. He never expected to love her so much and as always the realisation came only after her death

He had an older charismatic brother, Brandon, who was the Heir, a serious twin brother, Eddard, a wild little sister, Lyanna and a sweet little brother, Benjen. A big family, something he thought he never would see again as Hatake. The Hatake-Clan died with him and while he regretted it a bit, he regretted it not enough to produce any heirs. He could have asked for a civilian or ninja surrogate, some of his female lesbian friends or even Shikako for a child. She would have done it but be so uncomfortable with it that he never would have asked even if he had wanted a child.  

The House Stark sigil was a direwolf, which he found weirdly appropriate because the Hatake-Clan had wolves during the warring states period. He wanted a pack again. Maybe he could find some intelligent animals and train them.

His childhood in Winterfell was idyllic. No child soldiers, no war, no big fighting. He had tried to not show his prodigious mind to much, orientating himself by watching his brothers progress.

How had Shikako done this? The whole boredom and anxiety, being held by bigger people, to trust them to take care of his frail body. To not have his body autonomy, to relearn talking and walking. It was humiliating and taxing. But he did it.

He was a superb swordsman, incorporating thing he knew from before into his fighting style. He trained his other skills, assassination, stealth and tracking skills whenever he could.  He missed his nose – yes, the smell could be overwhelming, but he always knew where everyone was, who to trust. A sensitive nose was the reason he had the face mask after all. Having no chakra did no hinder him to be as Ninja-like as possible. He never showed his full potential because he knew he could be disconcerting to civilians and military alike.

_“You don’t seem to understand how civilians view child Ninjas. Even to us, who grew up with this system you were an exception and unnerving. To a civilian there is this six-year-old, who is smaller than you, who can kill grown man without thinking about it. Their definition of a child is, that it should be cute and harmless and not dangerous. When they see you in uniform with the knives and your skill they think: this child could kill me. And when they go home to their own small, defenceless children they think about this tiny Ninja-murderer and wonder about their own children’s capabilities. It’s a dichotomy. As adults they should protect the children, they should take care of the problem. As a Ninja it is the soldier’s assignment to protect and kill the enemies. As a child you are young and not yet an adult, you should play and have fun. As a soldier your serve Konoha, you are an adult, you have a job. Children should be innocent, adults are not expected to be. A child soldier can`t be innocent long, can´t be really a child. They don´t understand how such a young child could do this. Even I don´t understand what the fuck the Hokage was thinking letting you out in the field this young. It was not right, and I hope that there will never be child soldiers again. They should all apologize to you and go to hell for taking your childhood from you even if you thought you wanted to fight. And I´m so sorry that even now you don´t understand the problem for what it is because it was done to you and you think this makes it all right.” Shikako held his hand while she explained this to him. It was painful to hear. She always knew what to say – sometimes her explanations hurt but she never pitied him._

_“I knew they were afraid.”_

_“Yes, you probably were terrifying nonetheless still a child.”_

When he was eight years old his father talked about fostering him or his brother in the Eyrie under Lord Jon Arryn, the Lord Paramour of the Vale, Warden of the East and Head of House Arryn.

Ned wanted to go, probably to go away from Brandon’s charismatic shadow. Although he was fostered at Barrowtown with Lord Dustin, the Lord seemed to be full of pride about Brandon and send many letters about his accomplishments.

And maybe Ned wanted to be away from him. He couldn’t act _more_ less than he was. He toned it down as much as he could, but it was not enough.

He didn’t really want to go. It would be better if he as the second son went. He wanted to stay in Winterfell and find some dogs or wolves. Or even visit the other Lords and Ladies in the North later. And when he was old enough, he would ask his father to travel the Seven Kingdoms (or he would just disappear).

He was comfortable having a childhood like Shikako thought he should have had, playing and reading and annoying the people, learning new skills at his leisure. He did the expected things, excelled in them. His father never pushed too much, he mostly let him do what he wanted.

So, when his father tried to decide who to send fostering, he went to him to speak his mind.

“Alarick, what can I do for you?” his father sat in his office reading some papers. Suddenly he was nervous. But why should he be nervous?  He was older than his father, he could speak his mind!

“Father, I would like to speak about the foster placement with you, if you have the time.” His father looked up from his work and stared at him.

“Well, what do you want to say then.”

“I would very much like to stay here in Winterfell for the time being. Ned wants to go, and it would even be good for him. I would like to explore the North more, visit our bannerman or even the Wall. I know you visited the other Houses with Brandon before he was fostered, because he is your heir, but I would like to stay there a bit and learn from them something new. I don’t want to leave the North yet, when I don’t know much about it.”

It was different, being confident in such a small body. He missed being seen as an adult. (Not really, he relished the time as a child). He could have tried to find someone from his previous life, but Westeros was big and finding someone that tried to be unremarkable was impossible.

“Have you thought this through. I could foster you elsewhere, where you could gain the knighthood. With your skill it should be easy.”

And it would be easy, but he didn’t want the fame or the recognition. Or if someone tried to rob him into the Kingsguard. That would be awful. He needed excuses.

“I don´t feel comfortable swearing oaths by the Faith, as the knighthood is intimately tied to the Faith of the Seven. Knighthood is an Andal concept and I don’t know if I want this. I know there are only a few northern knights who still worship our Gods, most northern knights live in the south or worship the Seven. I can´t and won´t do that.”

As an excuse that was a good one. He was the second son and to worship another religion would not be a good idea. As the son of the Warden of the North he could not change this. Not that he worshiped any gods. He had enough of gods and their meddlesome ways. Shikako was so hurt by so many different gods, he could not forgive them hurting one of his precious people. And Kaguya, an alien goodness, was just a big no. He didn’t even want to think about Kaguya.

His father seemed pleased by his thinking.

“As you wish. Do you want to plan a route with Maester Luwin? Or do you have already something planed?”

“I have ideas but not concrete plans. I just know that I want to see the Wall, if it is as impressive as the books say. And I would like to visit House Mormont on the bear island, the women there sound impressive and I wish to fight with them. And the white harbour should be interesting.”

With luck – he hoped – Shikako was born there. Or he could try to find Sasuke or Naruto in the North somehow. This was a attempt to find them, even if a small one. He knew it was nearly Impossible but.... He would try.

“We will have to contact all the Lords. You can´t just come unannounced. I will write the ravens and once I get some answers, I will send you. You can go now, I have work to finish and I know you should be having lessons with Maester Luwin.” His father laughed a little and got back to work.

Arriving unannounced would be unfriendly but so fun. He had to be so proper here because everything was about reputation. He could not read porn in front of all – he was to young and it was not proper and there really wasn’t porn here, he could not arrive late or unannounced or joke. No wonder Clan-life was not for him.

He went to the library, knocked on the door and entered. Maester Luwin locked up, Ned sat in front of a big book about the History of Starks.

“Ah, Alarick. Where were you? You are late.” With this he couldn’t help himself, he had to say it.

“I`m sorry, I got lost on the path of life.”

Some things never changed.


	3. Goodbyes

**_Kakashi_ **

The North was big. It was nearly as large as the rest of the Seven Kingdoms combined, it was however sparsely populated with vast wilderness, forests, pine-covered hills and snow-capped mountains, speckled with tiny villages and holdfasts.

The Land of Fire could never compete, all the Hidden Villages and their countries could never compete.

He could run within a week to all other Hidden Villages. Kiri was 90 hours away – with rest included – and it was a route of 30 Miles.

The North in contrast was frankly unbelievable. The route from Winterfell to the Wall by horse would take weeks, three to four if you pushed. It was a route of 630 miles and he would never take the direct route because he would stop and take other routes to visit the Houses of the North. To even think about the magnitude of landmass was incredible.

He had never felt so small and so naïve in his belief that the countries he knew about were all that was in his home world. Shikako always had strong faith that their world was round and that they were just one landmass of many. She called it a continent:  a large, continuous, discrete mass of land, ideally separated by expanses of water. This technical term existed here in the local language so she was likely once more right. When was she not right about something?

She never shared her convictions with others. He and the rest of Team Seven heard about this often. She had always such interesting and unbelievable theories about the world.

He and Sai liked to hear her talk about her theories on space and physics and other sciences, though he was never quite convinced about the earth being ellipsoid.

 

Alarick sighed. He had it all planned but he didn’t know how long he would stay everywhere. He would start with the Borrowlands and House Dustin to visit his brother but only for a few days. He didn’t want to spend a lot of time there. House Reed of Greywater Watch seemed to be a good way to learn more about the _Magic_ of Westeros. He heard some rumours about _Magic_ and tried to read a bit about it but there wasn’t much, and his father didn’t like that he was so occupied with this nonsense. Not that believed in _Magic_ of all things, still rumours were rumours and he couldn’t ignore a potential power source. It could be chakra. He tried to activate his chakra once - to no avail.

(He was still deadly without it.)

Then he would travel his way through the coast side of the Blazewater Bay and Sunset Sea in direction of the Wall, visit the Houses Flint, Forrester and Glover; House Mormont and House Norrey and all the others he had written down.

It would probably take years to visit all he could visit without killing himself because the winter here was horrible. He couldn’t regulate his temperature anymore and couldn’t make fire out of nothing and didn’t have ration bars – he could never forget that. All this could have kept him alive but without it he had to make it the civilian way. Which he could, he was more resourceful than normal civilians with more experience but he still had only human limits.

Then he would visit the other side with House Umber, House Karstark and House Bolton. Maybe even visit Skagos – if someone didn’t stop him. And then House Hornwood, a different House Flint, House Manderly and House Locke.

He probably never would visit all of Westeros or even Essos. It was too large and they had no fast ways to move like they had after the Fourth Shinobi War with the train network Thunder Rail.

He sighed again looking at the map before him. His father entered the room examined his travel plans.

“I see you know where to begin. You will travel a long time. Are you sure you wish to spend such a long time on horseback? The weather is mild and it will last awhile. Still, you will have to winter in if the wind changes too much when the Winter comes again. I send ravens and the Houses invite you cordially. Some Houses even want to send their children to Winterfell. They all know of fostering but they never thought to ask for short visits. We will make many connections through you and strengthen the North. You will be on your best behaviour and I will not hear of any pranks and late comings. You will present yourself as the dignified son of House Stark, do you understand me?”

Being the only living Clan-member had obviously perks, no expectations whatsoever. But the family perk was great. He loved the Starks, really, he did. It was the nicest family but he missed the times he could be improper, insolent and annoying.

“Of course”, he said and smiled brightly, if a bit fake but who could see this?

“You will have guards with you. You are, ultimately, still a child. It was difficult to find guards who will want to travel so much. I found volunteers because I didn’t want to separate the others from their families. Be glad that there are volunteers. Unwilling guards would have been a problem but I would never hesitate to do what I must to keep you safe. Come, we will see Eddard off. He is excited to leave.”

They walked to the country yard, where the entire family was assembled.

Lyanna was angry at Ned for leaving, would probably cry and rage when he would leave. Benjen was quit.

He worried for them both, leaving them in Winterfell. Not that his father would do anything but he had southern ambitions since his wife died which was known and not well liked among the household and the other northern Houses.

Benjen was still young, only three years old, so the ambitions would not concern him much. The problem was, that he tended to hide his feelings and thought his father imposing. Their father was gruff and sometimes cold, not malicious or something like that. He was absent a lot during Ben´s first years, couldn’t look at him much, a reminder for his dead wife.

Ben was more comfortable with his older brothers than his father.

Lyanna was the apple of his father eyes, would probably grow up beautiful although now she looked like a scruffy wild little thing, her dress ruined from playing in the scrubs too much, her cheeks dirty. She was impulsive and wild, too prideful, she got away with much but she was still a child so it was all right. She was a bit like Hanabi but less dignified than her. Hanabi was a Hyuuga, raised with decorum and manners in stricter manner than they were but she had been also brash, a bit haughty and determined.

He hoped that Lyanna found some balance like Hanabi had, to temper her a bit. This world was not kind to women too outspoken. He hoped she could be happy.

“It´s nor fair that you all go away. I want to go too.” Lyanna stomped her food down and it was adorable when she looked like that, her hands going to her hips looking like their mother scolding them.

He laughed. “My cute little warrior”, he started to speak  _(my cute little genin, he thought)_ “when we come back, I will fight you to see your progress.” Then he ruffled her hair _(“We are not dogs, Kakashi-sensei!”)_ and she tried to swat his hand away.

“You promise?”

“Have I ever lied to you”, he asked her jokingly and got an extremely unimpressed glare.

“You lie every time you come too late, you have perfectly good excuses for everything!”

He laughed again, wondering how he could be so happy here with this.

“I promise”, he said solemnly and let her see the truth in his eyes. She huffed, crossed her arms and went to annoy Ned, who would leave shortly. He wouldn’t leave until next week.

He tried to go to Benjen but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. His father´s epression was grave looking at him.

“Alarick, you have to stop filling her head with warriors and swords. She is running from her lessons, doesn’t want to learn any womanly arts and fights too often.”

He thought on the women he knew before, some feminine, some sexy, some cute but all scary and powerful in their own speciality. He could never imagine a woman just sitting still and letting her husband do all her work.

“If you let her marry in the North, that would not be a problem, father. Lyanna will never be a dutiful wife and you know that.”

“Don’t be impudent, son. In the end I decide your marriages. I will find someone for you and for Lyanna. She knows her duty.”

His father clapped his shoulder and went to Ned. Benjen hid behind Nan, their childhood minder.

Marriage was something he didn’t want to think about. It felt like betrayal although he and Shikako never talked about what they had. They were never married, never kissed, never acknowledged their companionship. Would he marry? Could he marry someone?

Could he run away without putting his family and their reputation in danger? He didn’t know.

On the way to Ned he grabbed Ben, thanked Nan and changed his facial expressions to a genial one. “Have fun in the East.”

“I will. Thank you. I hope you enjoy your tour through the North.”

Always so serious, his twin brother. They shook hands, he wrapped his left arm around Ned´s shoulder, slapped his back two times, released the embrace and stepped back.

His students had cured him of avoiding physical contact. Naruto most of all at the beginning. They were all touch starved, their Team, except Shikako of course.

“And please, don’t embarrass us too much!”, were his brothers’ farewell words. He smiled. “Hm, did you say something?”, he asked and turned to the side. His brothers hand twitched as if thinking of hitting him but he refrained. Ned refrained a lot of doing things.

“Make House Stark proud, son. Build strong connections and behave. Farewell!”

And then they rode to Lord Arryn.

 

A week later he also rode away.


	4. The Curse (of Rebirth and Being a Woman)

**_Shikako_ **

She had high hopes of joining her family and friends in the Pure Land after her death, to finally rest and get some answers. It never happened, of course it never happened because she was cursed.

She was born a Lady, to her horror, as Melany Tully, second born daughter of Lord Hoster Tully, Lord of Riverrun, the Lord Paramount of the Trident and the Head of House Tully and Lady Minisa Tully, formerly Whent.

Being a Lady came with expectations, like marriage, which she would never do. Not to a stranger, not here when she had avoided marriage in her last life. Should Kakashi also be here then she would think about this. Maybe she would even think of a marriage to Sasuke or Naruto, if she had to and couldn’t run away fast enough, but never to anybody else.

Her new parents loved her and her older sister very much, probably because her mother had already lost two children before Catelyn was born. She was two years younger than Catelyn and a girl. Her parents were disappointed at first, because she couldn’t be an heir, a son. They loved her anyway.

They were great people, nice people even. Her father liked riding and traveling, her mother was pretty and gentle, so very different from Nara Yoshino, who had been very strict and overbearing but also warm and gentle. As wife and mother of Nara children she had to have a strong personality.

(Nara men were so lazy.)

Her mother was often very ill – probably pregnancy problems, the Maester couldn’t help and her father was a very busy man, but they tried to be attentive parents.

When Lysa was born one year later and they all grew up a bit she noticed that she stood out among her family. House Tully often had red hair and blue eyes, like her father, who had more brown hair, but still a bit reddish, and blue eyes. Catelyn and Lysa inherited the Tully colouring: the auburn hair, the fair skin, the blue eyes as well as their mothers’ high cheekbones and a sharp jaw.

By contrast she had blackish-brown hair and narrow brown eyes, she looked a lot like her former self Shikako, a lot like a Nara without the Asian look, which was great for her because she new her body but was not so great in the family situation because she stood out – or rather she didn’t.

The people searched for her, saw her as plain. That she found fantastic, being unremarkable and ordinary but she hated that the people commented on her difference so often.

Not that she was not attractive, just not as striking as her sisters.

She never thought that not being beautiful and eye-catching would garner so much attention.

Her character made her stand out too. She tried to be as ladylike as her sisters, as dutiful and pious, blending in as good as she could.

The thing was, many skills she had to learn from the Septa she had already learned during her academy days, she only had to relearn everything with her young untrained hands, legs and her voice:

The Academy taught the girls in kunoichi class sewing and embroidery, ikebana and basic cooking, tea ceremonies, make-up applying, instruments, to sing and act and dance, drawing and sketching.

Some things she would not need here. Different cultural background and all that.

The instruments were different, so she had to learn new ones, the dances and songs were different – but the idea behind she had already learned and it bored her.

Sewing and embroidery made her mentally cry. It would be useful, especially if she actually tried to learn healing in this world like she planned to do but it was tedious and irritating.

Dancing was good for balance and precision, which is why she liked the lessons.

She missed the dancing culture of her old world.

Gossiping – or rather manners and courtesy in social situations – reminded her so much of people watching with Ino that the lessons hurt.

Math was something she was remembering for the third time so she didn’t even need to think about this. In the future they would be expected to run not only their own household, but that of their husband´s estates in their absence. Business management, cost efficiency etc.

It was repetitive.

She was nervous about this idyllic strife-free life. She knew nothing about the future of this world so she couldn’t concentrate on the lessons like she should. She wasn’t bad, she was actually quite good but the Septa could see, that she didn’t enjoy any of this.

As a lady she also had to read romance and poems and holy scriptures. The holy thing made her nervous. Oh, she believed in gods. She knew gods and she didn’t appreciate them, they meddled too much in the human realm, hurt the people and played with humanity. They were whimsical and merciless. She could never be pious, believing in their goodwill.

Her mother didn’t like that at all. Catelyn didn’t like that she couldn’t behave herself like a normal lady.

Catelyn was perfect, Lysa was sweet and she, as Shikako and as Melany, simply couldn’t be.

She was a kunoichi, a shinobi, used to be heard and powerful. Here she couldn’t be and It was stifling. She was too opinionated, too active, too brash.

She loved riding and reading, but she rode too fast and read too much of things she shouldn’t learn – of warfare and sieges, of weapons and magic. Nothing she did was good enough and that hurt.

Often her father said things like: “If you were a boy….” or “As a boy you could…”.

As Shikako she had so much freedom and independence, she could follow her interests and her parents let her. Shikaku, her former father, had been laid back and supportive of her interest in sagas and fairy tales, her mother assisted her and helped her search for books or heard her out about her new ideas and new fancies.

As Melany that was not allowed, she was discouraged and it hurt so much because despite the negative reactions they tried to love her and she loved them.

She disliked disappointing people, especially her parents.

Family, Duty, Honor vs. team mates, the clan, those allied with them and Konoha itself.

She didn’t mind the words, they were important and she quite liked them. She would support her family. But not in the way they expected her to.  

She just felt helpless in the role as civilian female and she promised herself after the Kyuubi attack to not be helpless. She did not, ever, want to be helpless again, too helpless to help.

So she trained her body in secret, woke up earlier than the Septa to absolve the morning routine her kunoichi mother taught her, relearned the katas again.

She trained her speed and stamina, silent walking, learned climbing and falling anew.

She stole a sword and knives from the armoury, but so, that no servants would fall onto suspicion and be punished, and she trained with the weapons.

On the side she pestered the Maester about healing plants and methods, which was an interest her parents encouraged. It could be a womanly art after all.

Melany thought first of poisons and toxins, of killing and protecting herself, and secondly of healing and stemming bleeding, of helping. She knew some medicine, had some ideas that were not yet discovered, that she could introduce to this world. She just had to grow up a bit.

 

Then her brother was born, the heir, Edmure, a boy with auburn hair and blue eyes.

(She was the only outsider in the family.)

He was a bit too small, born too early and their mother was ill again. The next pregnancy would probably kill her, if there was one.

And she couldn’t do anything because she didn’t know as much about pregnancy as she would like (she tried to remember, maybe she would again, but she needed the knowledge quickly and it wouldn’t come) and who would believe her, when she was only seven years old?

 

In the meantime, Catelyn and Lysa grew closer and closer, had secret languages and played pranks together. She didn’t fit into the dynamic, couldn’t talk about boys and dresses, of charming men and romantic stories.

It was lonely, so she trained and learned more.

 

One day, the new ward, Petyr Bealish, came.

She didn’t like him. He lied as easily as he breathed, made himself seem likable and capable.

He was cunning, clever and bold, always getting into trouble, but capable of looking contrite after his mischiefs.

He was only a bit younger than Catelyn but the way he eyed her sister after a few years as ward made her stomach churn. She knew what he was after. Oh, he was so very subtle, never showing his interest, his ambitions too much.

But she knew, she _knew_.

He tried to come near her, once, but she would never trust him. Everybody trusted him, because he seemed powerless but he was very friendly and very helpful – very underestimated.

“Hello Melany. How are you.” He leaned against the door frame, blocking her way out on purpose.

“What do you want?” She was in no mood to _talk_ to this boy, who reminded her so much of Kabuto.

“You don’t like me very much, do you?”

“No!” Her denial was very expressive, she hoped.

He didn’t seem to expect her frankness, expecting her act in a courtly manner to not offend him. She wouldn’t pretend to be a lady for him.

“Why?”, he looked openly curious.

She wanted to kill him so very much. One day she would. When she saw him alone, she would, probably. She hadn’t killed in this world yet.

“I know what you are after. Do you really expect that you can marry a highborn lady like Catelyn? Our father thinks about marriage prospects and you were never on his mind.”

“Oh. I could _persuade_ her.” He was so slimy and she knew what he implied. Destroying Catelyn’s reputation would not give her good marriage prospects and she so wanted so badly to marry a good, charming Lord.

Melany threatened to kill him with poisons. Not very subtle, but who would believe him? And when she detailed the effects some berries or plants had on the human body a bit too detailed? He deserved it.

 

He never spoke to her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names: my thoughts about the names
> 
> Melany:  
> Ancient Greek “mélas (μέλας)/ melanía (μελανία)”, meaning blackness, darkness, clad in black, obscure, enigmatic  
> I even read somewhere the meaning: person covered by shadows)  
> (and has an y (like CatelYn, LYsa, MelanY - I wanted that)
> 
> Alarick:  
> Germananic for Ala "everyone's" and ric "ruler"  
> noble leader, fierce, supreme ruler  
> I actually searched for wolf-names/meaning first and there was the meaning "Wolf ruler" - which is not wholly true.  
> But I liked this name anyway and it fits Ala-RICK/ RICK-ard


End file.
